Jailed: Joaquim Marrafa tried to blame his actions on a mental disorder

A man murdered the mother of his children and then took his toddler son to the police station to confess to the killing.

Joaquim Marrafa had his two-year-old son in a pushchair when he told officers he wanted to report a crime - and then demonstrated how he had strangled girlfriend Sandra Maralhas.

Marrafa denied murder and tried to claim his actions were the result of mental impairment.

However a jury did not believe his version of events and unanimously convicted Marrafa of murder. A judge at Reading Crown Court told him he must serve at least 14 years of a life sentence for throttling mother-of-six Maralhas.

Speaking after the verdict, Detective Inspector Dave Hubbard, said: 'Sandra Maralhas was the mother of six children, aged between one and 20, who have been left devastated, confused, shocked, and heartbroken by her death.

'Even though Marrafa admitted he had killed her, he refused to plead guilty and put her son and others through the ordeal of giving evidence in court.

'I am pleased with the verdict and sentence handed down today, which reflects the fact Marrafa has shown no remorse for his terrible crime.'

Jurors were told the victim had left home because of emotional abuse and physical violence but that she had continued to see her unemployed killer - to pay him some of the benefit money she received for their children.

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She had also had an abortion just four days before she died but she had kept that and the fact that she was pregnant from Marrafa.

The 46-year-old defendant told startled police he had left his girlfriend's body in the bedroom of the home he had once shared with her.

He also confided with them that he had not called an ambulance and nor did he know if she were alive or dead.

Just hours before her death Marrafa had left a doctor's surgery with his former partner where he had been prescribed medication after complaining of being depressed.

Floral tributes: Flowers left outside the house where Sandra Maralhas was found

When police forced their way into the flat in Coronation Square, Reading, Berkshire, they found the body of 38-year-old Ms Maralhas slumped at the foot of the bed and although police and paramedics tried to revive her, there were unable to.

A post mortem examination showed that she had been strangled and that her killer could have had his hands tightly around her neck for as long as three minutes.

The couple had met in 1998 in their native Portugal when Ms Maralhas already had three children from a previous relationship.

They moved to the UK in 1999, initially living with Ms Maralhas' sister Rute.

Ms Maralhas worked as a cleaner and later at a newsagent, and although Marrafa had found work in the building trade he was unemployed at the time of his partner's death.

A psychiatrist acting for Marrafa's defence team has said that he was suffering from a depressive disorder which caused an abnormality of his mental function, which would reduce his responsibility for the killing.